Chapter 16
Jiamu City is a remote fifth-tier small city on Cangtian Star.
In a classroom, a female teacher is teaching a student how to sing high notes.
The students followed the female teacher and made sounds.
“Ah~”
Another half hour passed. Chi Xuanmo checked the time and clapped her hands: "Okay, that's about it for today."
After assigning students some after-class exercises, the class officially ended.
The student didn't leave immediately. Chi Xuanmo asked gently, "Is there something you don't understand?"
"Ah, I remember everything the teacher taught me." The thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl tugged at her hair and hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Teacher, have you signed up for the audition?"
Chi Xuanmo: "What?"
"I've created an audition invitation for Director Huan, who wrote Untitled. Teacher, the kind of opera performers Director Huan is looking for should be the kind of opera you know from your home planet. Teacher, why don't you give it a try?"
A hint of sadness flashed across Chi Xuanmo's eyes, but she quickly suppressed it: "Teacher, how do I look like a star? Go back and practice hard. Don't be lazy. I'll check next class."
"Oh." The student lowered his head, took two steps and couldn't help but stop again.
"teacher."
"Um."
"Before, I had no idea about the culture of my home planet and had no interest in it. My classmates were all the same as me. But since Untitled was released, we often discuss the plot, the protagonists' outfits, the dialogues, and the poetry in it during class breaks."
"I used to read those poems, but I couldn't understand them, and I didn't want to understand them. I didn't know why our ancestors on our home planet used such difficult expressions. It was really overwhelming."
"Now I think our ancestors were truly amazing. Li Shangyin, the romantic sage, is an idol for many of my classmates. We would quote his poems and use them as our social media signatures."
The student touched his nose and said, "Exactly. What I want to say is that we don't understand those operas either, and we didn't have the opportunity before. But now it's different. If Director Huan can really make a good film related to operas and let everyone know more about them, there will definitely be people discussing it, and some people will like it."
The students left, but Chi Xuanmo sat in the classroom motionless until it was completely dark and the classroom fell into a pitch-black silence.
I don’t know how long it took, but then the lights came on again.
The next morning, Chi Xuanmo stood in front of the old house, turned the key, turned the doorknob, and the door opened.
Chi Xuanmo stepped in. There was no dampness or dust in the room from not being occupied for a long time. It was obvious that someone often came to clean and tidy up, taking good care of everything here. And what was displayed in the room were sets of clothes that almost no one would recognize if they were taken out now.
They are all treasures left to her by her grandfather.
Before Grandpa, the things in this room had other owners. Chi Xuanmo didn't know who they were, but she knew that these "things" were passed down from generation to generation by their inheritors along with their skills.
Sitting in front of the mirror, Chi Xuanmo tied her hair and put on makeup. Gradually, the heavy makeup covered up her original appearance.
After changing into a loose theatrical robe, Chi Xuanmo stepped onto the small stage in the center step by step. The contact between the uppers of her shoes and the wooden board made a sound. Chi Xuanmo paced slowly at first, and then her steps became faster and faster. The corners of her robe fluttered, and Chi Xuanmo also hummed along.
Pictures emerged in her mind. Chi Xuanmo was adopted by her grandfather. This was the first time she came into contact with drama. At that time, her grandfather was not too old. On the central stage, her grandfather and several of his friends put on heavy makeup like hers and brought her into this small circle.
Other elderly people also brought their children, but the children were not interested. Chi Xuanmo was the only young audience member of the elderly. When the opera ended, Chi Xuanmo clapped her hands vigorously.
Grandpa asked her, "Do you like it?"
She nodded.
Grandpa asked her again if she wanted to learn.
She nodded vigorously again.
I still remember my grandfather touching the top of her head, his eyes full of complexity as he whispered, "This is something passed down from our ancestors. Learning it will be very hard, so hard that you might even want to give up. It will also be very lonely. As time goes by, you will find that you may be the only one left among the performers and the audience."
The child didn’t understand so many profound principles. She only knew that liking it was enough. She wanted to learn and sing. She wanted to stand in the center of the stage like her grandfather and be the focus of everyone else’s attention.
After that, as the seasons changed, the old tree in front of the house added circle after circle of growth rings, and she understood firsthand the hardship of learning to sing.
While her peers were playing, she was warming up her voice. While her peers were studying in class, she was learning basic knowledge from her tutor and practicing bending her waist.
I thought about giving up and even broke down and cried.
However, she finally returned to this old house. No matter how hard or tiring it was, she just liked it.
Fourteen-year-old Chi Xuanmo swore to her grandfather that she would become the best and famous actress, bring traditional opera to a bigger stage, and never let the art of her ancestors be lost.
Thanks to her special skills, 17-year-old Chi Xuanmo was admitted to a prestigious university. Her voice was so good that her teacher was very happy to have her as a promising talent. However, the teacher did not understand the essence and charm of opera and earnestly taught her:
"Xuan Mo, you know what? Every time you open your voice, I feel a kind of shock that makes my scalp tingle. I must admit that your family's opera culture contains many excellent techniques. It is precisely because of these techniques that I decided to accept you after listening to just one line of your singing."
"The teacher also knows that you want to spread opera to more people."
"The teacher won't stop you, but you must understand that history becomes history because it has become the past tense. The things of our ancestors are no longer suitable for this society, and people don't have the patience to slowly understand them."
"The teacher's advice to you is to switch to modern pop music first. The teacher will teach you all his skills."
"The teacher will do his best to pave the way for you to enter the music industry. The teacher's network is your network. Combined with your own conditions, the teacher is sure that you will become a big star."
“Wait until you’re on the biggest stage before letting people know your private hobbies. Then, everyone—your fans, your enemies, or those who want to copy your path—will understand.”
"Then you can loudly tell everyone what traditional opera is from your home planet. You can even put on your costume and sing your recent performance of 'Farewell My Concubine' for everyone at a concert. This unique hobby will be your best label."
The teacher really wanted to do this for Chi Xuanmo's own good. At that time, as long as Chi Xuanmo nodded, the teacher would do his best to teach her and help her.
But she could also feel that the teacher did not actually approve of opera in his heart, but because he saw her love and persistence, the teacher made a compromise.
Debuting as a pop singer, opera can only ever be her hobby.
She can sing ten pop songs and then an opera at a concert.
However, what she really wanted to do was to hold a "concert" filled with operas, sing for the entire show, and win the audience's applause, even if the stage was not that big and even if not many people knew her.
In addition, Chi Xuanmo was young and loyal at that time, and she was passionate enough not to turn back until she hit the wall.
So she rejected the teacher's suggestion.
She wanted to be on stage, but she wanted to make her debut as a Peking Opera actor. It was not a hobby, but her profession.
She is an opera actress.
Chi Xuanmo failed. In the year her grandfather passed away, amid her teacher's regretful lamentations, Chi Xuanmo returned to her hometown alone and became a vocal teacher, guarding the old house that was also forgotten by time.
"Grandpa, I still have this bad temper. I've fallen so many times, but I still don't learn my lesson."
"One last time, let me try one last time. I want to prove that our persistence was not wrong."
After opening the computer, Chi Xuanmo sent the completed resume to Xinghuo's official website.
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